Minoru Sasaki

Minoru Sasaki (佐佐木 登, Sasaki Minoru^?, 1 January 1893 – 27 April 1961) sometimes referred to as Noburo Sasaki, was a commander in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II.

Biography

Sasaki graduated from the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1914 as a cavalry officer. He was sent as a military attaché to Russia and Poland in the 1920s, and served in a number of staff positions within the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff.

From 1939-1940, Sasaki was commander of the IJA 4th Cavalry Brigade. He became Chief of Staff of the IJA 6th Army in China in 1940. From 1942-1943, he was attached to the Armored Warfare Department within the Ministry of War, and promoted the development of tanks and armored warfare within the Japanese military.^[1]

However, as the war situation continued to deteriorate for the Japanese military in the Solomon Islands, Sasaki was reassigned to command the Southern Detachment in 1943. He led the Japanese forces during the Battle of New Georgia from June 1943 to August 1943. After fighting an effective, but ultimately unsuccessful delaying campaign, his forces retreated to Kolombangara, only to be bypassed and left to starve, with little chance of reinforcement or resupply. He and his surviving forces managed to successfully escape by barge to Choiseul and Bougainville and then to Rabaul. Sasaki was promoted to lieutenant general in October 1944.^[2]

He was later attached to the IJA 8th Area Army Headquarters at Rabaul until the end of the war.

References

Books

• Altobello, Brian (2000). Into the Shadows Furious. Presidio Press. ISBN 0-89141-717-6. 
• Bergerud, Eric M. (1997). Touched with Fire : The Land War in the South Pacific. Penguin. ISBN 0-14-024696-7. 
• Fuller, Richard (1992). Shokan: Hirohito's Samurai. London: Arms and Armour Press. ISBN 1854091514. 
• Hammel, Eric M. (1999). Munda Trail: The New Georgia Campaign, June–August 1943. Pacifica Press. ISBN 0-935553-38-X. 
• Hayashi, Saburo (1959). Kogun: The Japanese Army in the Pacific War. Marine Corps. Association. ASIN B000ID3YRK. 
• McGee, William L. (2002). The Solomons Campaigns, 1942-1943: From Guadalcanal to Bougainville--Pacific War Turning Point, Volume 2 (Amphibious Operations in the South Pacific in WWII). BMC Publications. ISBN 0-9701678-7-3. 
• Morison, Samuel Eliot (1958). Breaking the Bismarcks Barrier, vol. 6 of History of United States Naval Operations in World War II. Castle Books. ISBN 0785813071. 

External links

• Ammenthorp, Steen. "Sasaki Minoru". The Generals of World War II. http://www.generals.dk/general/Sasaki/Minoru/Japan.html. 
• Budge, Kent. "Minoru Sasaki". Pacific War Online Encyclopedia. http://pwencycl.kgbudge.com/index.htm. 
• Craven, Wesley Frank; James Lea Cate. "Vol. IV, The Pacific: Guadalcanal to Saipan, August 1942 to July 1944". The Army Air Forces in World War II. U.S. Office of Air Force History. http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/AAF/IV/index.html. Retrieved 2006-10-20. 
• Hoffman, Jon T. (1995). "New Georgia" (brochure). FROM MAKIN TO BOUGAINVILLE: Marine Raiders in the Pacific War. Marine Corps Historical Center. http://www.nps.gov/archive/wapa/indepth/extContent/usmc/pcn-190-003130-00/sec11.htm. Retrieved 2006-11-21. 
• Lofgren, Stephen J.. Northern Solomons. United States Army Center of Military History. pp. 36. http://www.history.army.mil/brochures/northsol/northsol.htm. Retrieved 2010-07-06. 
• Melson, Charles D. (1993). "UP THE SLOT: Marines in the Central Solomons". WORLD WAR II COMMEMORATIVE SERIES. History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps. pp. 36. http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/USMC-C-CSol/index.html. Retrieved Sept 26 2006. 
• Mersky, Peter B. (1993). "Time of the Aces: Marine Pilots in the Solomons, 1942-1944". Marines in World War II Commemorative Series. History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps. http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/USMC-C-Aces/index.html. Retrieved 2006-10-20. 
• Miller, John, Jr. (1959). "CARTWHEEL: The Reduction of Rabaul". United States Army in World War II: The War in the Pacific. Office of the Chief of Military History, U.S. Department of the Army. pp. 418. http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-P-Rabaul/index.html. Retrieved 2006-10-20. 
• Rentz, John (1952). "Marines in the Central Solomons". Historical Branch, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps. http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/USMC-M-CSol/USMC-M-CSol-5.html. Retrieved 2006-05-30. 
• Shaw, Henry I.; Douglas T. Kane (1963). "Volume II: Isolation of Rabaul". History of U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World War II. http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/II/index.html. Retrieved 2006-10-18. 
• Japanese Operations in the Southwest Pacific Area, Volume II - Part I. United States Army Center of Military History. 1994. http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/MacArthur%20Reports/MacArthur%20V2%20P1/macarthurv2.htm#contents. Retrieved 2006-12-08. - Translation of the official record by the Japanese Demobilization Bureaux detailing the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy's participation in the Southwest Pacific area of the Pacific War.

Notes